Research Blog #11: The Case

The case for my project is the argument of whether or not money equals happiness because from research i have found, the researchers seem to define happiness as money. Some, like the Kent Swift that i mentioned in my last post, feel that money cannot buy happiness and that it is more of what you do in life and who you do things with throughout your life that makes you happy. They believe that there is much more to life and what makes a person happy other than just some large amount of money. On the other hand, other researchers think that if you don't focus on your academics in college that you will not be happy. The reason for this is that if you don't do well in school then you won't get a good, well paying job in the future where you can make lots of money and in the end that will make you happy. If this were the case for the way you want to live your life, that then it would actually be more self-actualizing for you to study all the time and focusing on your schoolwork. Some ways of socialization may even be against a person's well being, and with this it is more important to them to pay less attention to the college life. From information I have found, there is a lot of research supporting both sides of the argument, ultimately creating one case for my paper.

Research Blog #10: The Debate

The debate I have found with my topic is essentially the question of who is happier in the end: students who work hard at their academics throughout college or the students who have fun in college and focus more on college life. From my research, I have found writers who help to identify with both sides of the debate. Kent Swift, in an article of his, explains how "Folk wisdom proposes that money cannot buy happiness and, thus, suggests that a focus on material success is not the basis for a good life. Rather, a life well-lived would include a focus on such elements as happiness, a sense of purpose, wisdom, creativity, a philosophy of life, achievement, and the experience of love" He says that money isn't everything. Happiness cannot be determined by a certain level of material comfort, like money. But instead, it stems from having meaningful connections with others, and meaningful things to do. Other writers however, in an article titled "Acting for Happiness: Financial Behavior and Life Satisfaction of College Students, the authors tell us how too much focus on money and financial success is likely to lead to lowered happiness because it reduces the time and energy available to pursue more meaningful goals, but that with a good job and good education you will generally be happier with the success you have in life. That in turn leads to overall life satisfaction. There are the two sides of this argument in that money either represents happiness or it doesn't and these writers both defend opposite sides of that.

Research Blog #9: Questions

So far I feel like my paper is going pretty well. I'm not really having any trouble finding sources, although I haven't looked for my primary source yet. My research proposal basically summed up all of my main ideas I want to talk about in my paper except for maybe like you said with the book "Educated in Romance" and how it is a gendered thing that women are more pressured into doing poorly in college because of their attractiveness to men and along with some other factors. I also think I'm still a little confused as to what you mean by "identifying key terms" too.

Research Blog #8: Research Question in Conversation

Why must life be determined by the outcome of college when successfulness doesn't always deliver happiness?

After doing a lot of research and reading through my sources, I have come to find that this would be the best research question for my topic. Some people may say that in order for you to be successful in life you need to do well in college and pick a good major that will then later help you to get a high paying job. But does money necessarily buy happiness? According to the science of happiness, people do not judge their happiness on material things alone, so income is not a direct measure of happiness. While some people may feel as i explained above, others feel that it is better to pick an easier major so they could "have fun" in college and really enjoy the student life; this way they would not have to worry about giving up a great deal in their social life. The debate still stands on whether or not people who party their way through college are happier in the long run than the ones who spend most of their time studying and end up having better, higher paying careers. By using studies of success in college and other studies on happiness, I hope to be able to pick a side and be able to argue and make a case for the value of student life and how just happiness may also be beneficial for the future.